Paula Deen Scandal Continues As Employees Tell Rainbow/PUSH Coalition Of Alleged Discrimination

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By Fran Jeffries and Wayne Washington, Atlanta Journal Constitution

An attorney for the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition said current and former Paula Deen employees told him the famous cook and her brother discriminated against black employees, one of whom was consistently referred to as “my little monkey.”

Paula Ann Hiers Deen is an American cook, former cooking show host, restaurateur, author, actress and Emmy Award-winning television personality.

Paula Ann Hiers Deen is an American cook, former cooking show host, restaurateur, author, actress and Emmy Award-winning television personality.

After Deen acknowledged using a racial slur, the story went viral and the Food Network announced on Friday that it would not renew her contract when it expires at the end of June.

Deen and her brother, Bubba Hiers, are being sued by Lisa T. Jackson, a former employee who claims she endured a hostile work environment replete with racial slurs….

Scores of people vented on the Food Network’s Facebook page. On Facebook, a ‘We Support Paula Deen’ page had more than 128,000 likes. A ‘Bring Back Paula Deen’ page started at 5 p.m. Friday by Jimmy Beck, of Carrollton, had more than 1,200 likes. “I am only 20, but I know what forgiveness is. I think it’s time we move away from this crazy political correctness,” Beck wrote in an email to the AJC [Atlanta Journal Constitution].

More than 100 people have commented in AJC’s The Buzz column.

An AJC Twitter call-out netted numerous emails and phone calls.

From Deen's website: "As a young girl growing up in Albany, Georgia, Paula Deen never dreamed she would become an American icon. As a young mother, Paula was living the American dream—married to her high school sweetheart, raising two adorable boys; when tragedy struck....Paula turned around her life by sharing what she knew best, traditional Southern cooking. Overcoming poverty, self doubt and health challenges to achieve success and acclaim she could never have imagined, Paula has become one of the best-known personalities in the world of cooking. Yet the most remarkable part of Paula Deen’s journey from her kitchen to fame and fortune is that Paula has remained every bit as genuine, real and full of love as she was the day that the first meals left her kitchen.

From Deen’s website: “As a young girl growing up in Albany, Georgia, Paula Deen never dreamed she would become an American icon. As a young mother, Paula was living the American dream—married to her high school sweetheart, raising two adorable boys; when tragedy struck….Paula turned around her life by sharing what she knew best, traditional Southern cooking.
                                                                                                          Overcoming poverty, self doubt and health challenges to achieve success and acclaim she could never have imagined, Paula has become one of the best-known personalities in the world of cooking. Yet the most remarkable part of Paula Deen’s journey from her kitchen to fame and fortune is that Paula has remained every bit as genuine, real and full of love as she was the day that the first meals left her kitchen.”

 

 

“I don’t think Paula should ever use the N-word, but I don’t think it merited her being fired from the Food Network,” said Wilbur E. Jordan, Jr., a 28-year old Augusta resident. “I do feel her apology was heartfelt.”

Learell Faulk, 33, of Calhoun, was critical of the decision not to renew Deen’s contract.

“I understand that Food Network is a business with an image to protect and anything short of firing Paula Deen would appear to support her past mistakes,” said Faulk, who is white. “The fact that Food Network is being forced by society into this decision is nothing less than hogwash.”

Darah Cubit, who described herself as a 22-year-old black woman from the West Coast, said she was not surprised to learn that Deen had used a racial slur.

“After all, she is an older white woman in one of the most notorious slave states in the country,” Cubit said. “However, my problem is that for years the people around her had been condoning this behavior and accepting the clearly biased opinions she had communicated off camera. Her personal beliefs and biases obviously would have affected how most of her viewers, being of slave descent, support her restaurants, shows, and special appearances.”

Read the full article here.

Watch the Daily Show’s “report” on Deen’s problem and its cure here.


https://youtu.be/gTFRNAiKwhw

Read more Breaking News here.

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